Molecular biology of cell division

Different domains of the SV40 A gene have different functions, such as viral DNA replication, cell DNA replication, and stimulation of cellular RNA synthesis. The sequences in the SV40 A gene that are critical for the induction of cell DNA synthesis lie on the map between nucleotide 4360 and nucleotide 4001, a stretch of 360 nucleotides coding for 120 of the 708 amino acids of the large T antigen. The sequences critical for stimulation of rRNA synthesis lie on the map further downstream, between nucleotides 3827 and 3506, thus indicating that the signals for growth in size and for cell DNA replication can be dissociated. Methylation of the SV40 A gene at multiple ECoRI* sites has no effect on its expression. However, methylation of the HSV-TK gene at one single ECoRI site 70 base pairs upstream from the cap site inhibits its expression. The results indicate that methylation of genes affects their expression, but only when methylation occurs at specific sites.